Game 1 of 9 · Pragmatic Play · 2019
The Dog House Slot Review
The original: sticky wilds, barrel free spins and 6,750x
Our score: 8.6/10
Quick verdict: The Dog House is the game that started the series in 2019, and it still holds up. Wilds on the three middle reels carry 2x or 3x multipliers, free spins start with a row of barrels that decides how many spins you get, and every wild in the bonus sticks until the end. It's simple, fair at 96.51% and capped at 6,750x. There's no bonus buy, so you have to earn the feature.
- RTP
- 96.51%From the in-game rules
- Volatility
- MediumThe game's own rating
- Max win
- 6,750xYour total bet
- Bet range
- 0.20–240Per spin, 20 lines
The game
What is The Dog House?
The Dog House is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot from Pragmatic Play with 20 fixed paylines. It came out in and became one of the studio's best-known games, so popular that Pragmatic has built eight more games on it since.
The setting is a sunny back yard with a white picket fence, a big tree and a purple house next door. Four dogs live here: a grinning Rottweiler, a Shih Tzu with a pink bow, a Pug and a Dachshund. They're the four top-paying symbols, and they turn up again, in costume or not, in every later game.
The hero is the red wooden dog house. It's the wild symbol, it only appears on the three middle reels, and it always carries a multiplier. That one idea, multiplier wilds that stay put in free spins, is the heart of the whole series.
Wins pay left to right on 20 lines, starting from the first reel. Hold the space bar for turbo spins, or use autoplay for up to 1,000 spins.
Paytable
Symbols and paytable
| Symbols | 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 37.5x | 7.5x | 2.5x |
 | 25x | 5x | 1.75x |
 | 15x | 3x | 1.25x |
 | 10x | 2x | 1x |
| Collar | 7.5x | 1.25x | 0.6x |
| Bone | 5x | 1x | 0.4x |
| A, K | 2.5x | 0.5x | 0.25x |
| Q, J, 10 | 1.25x | 0.25x | 0.1x |
The figures are multiples of your total bet. The rules print them in dollars at a $2.00 bet, so 5 Rottweilers show as $75.00, which is 37.5x. The red paw Bonus symbol pays separately: 3 of them pay 5x your bet wherever they land, and start free spins.
Base game
Wild multipliers on reels 2, 3 and 4
The dog house wild substitutes for every symbol except the Bonus paw, and it can only land on reels 2, 3 and 4. On every spin, all wilds on the same reel get a random multiplier of 2x or 3x, and that multiplier applies to every line the wild completes.
When a line runs through more than one wild, the multipliers are added, not multiplied. A 2x and a 3x on one line make 5x; three 3x wilds make 9x. That's the main difference from the Megaways versions, where wild multipliers multiply each other.
Worked example. Three Rottweilers on a line pay 2.5x your bet. If the middle one is a 3x wild, the line pays 7.5x. With 2x and 3x wilds on reels 2 and 3 and a Rottweiler on reels 1 and 4, four of a kind pay 7.5x × 5 = 37.5x.
Our screenshot shows what a normal spin looks like: a 3x wild on reel 2 and a 2x wild on reel 4. On this spin they didn't line up with matching symbols, which is the usual story. The wilds look generous, but they need the dogs around them to pay.
Bonus round
Free spins and sticky wilds
The Bonus paw only appears on reels 1, 3 and 5. Land all three and you win 5x your bet straight away, and the free spins begin.
- The barrels. Before the round, a 3×3 grid of barrels spins. Each barrel stops on 1, 2 or 3, and the nine numbers are added up. You get between 9 and 27 free spins, and the rules give no way to influence the count.
- Sticky wilds. Every wild that lands on reels 2, 3 or 4 during the round stays on its spot until the end. Its multiplier, 2x or 3x, is revealed when it lands and doesn't change.
- No retriggers. Bonus symbols are taken off the reels during free spins, so the round can't be extended.
The appeal is easy to see: each sticky wild makes every later spin stronger, and a reel full of 3x wilds turns even card symbols into real wins. The catch is that the round can also stay empty for a long time, as ours did.
Tested
Our demo bonus round, step by step
We played Pragmatic Play's free demo at a $2.00 bet with turbo autoplay. There's no bonus buy here, so we waited for the feature the honest way. It arrived after roughly 290 spins, which says a lot about how rare three Bonus paws on reels 1, 3 and 5 can be.
- Three Bonus paws landed on reels 1, 3 and 5 and paid $10.00, which is 5x the bet.
- The barrels added up to 12 free spins, close to the bottom of the 9–27 range.
- A 2x wild landed on reel 2 early in the round and stuck there for every remaining spin.
- No second wild came. Most spins paid small card-symbol lines, some doubled by the sticky 2x.
- The round ended at $29.20 including the Bonus pay: 14.6x the bet.
One round proves nothing about the maths, but it shows the shape of the game well. The original's bonus lives or dies on how many wilds stick. One wild gives you a modest round; three or four on the middle reels are where the 1,000x+ results come from.
The maths
RTP, volatility and max win
RTP: 96.51%
The rules in Pragmatic's demo list a theoretical return of 96.51%, close to the average for modern slots. A large online casino we checked showed 96.50% on the same day, so the version can differ slightly between casinos. Always open the rules where you play: they show the version you're actually on.
Volatility: medium
The rules call The Dog House a medium-volatility game that "pays out steadily". In practice the base game is fairly quiet, and most of the money is in the free spins, which can take a few hundred spins to arrive.
Max win: 6,750x
The intro screen says you can win up to 6,750 times your bet. That's the lowest cap in the series, shared with the Dice Show reskin. The later games raise it all the way to 25,000x.
More on every game's numbers: Dog House RTP and max win compared.
Series history
Why the original still matters
Almost everything in the later games is a twist on something introduced here. Keep these three ideas in mind and every sequel is easy to understand:
- Multiplier wilds on the middle reels. Multihold, Dog or Alive, Royal Hunt and The Big Dog House all keep them, with the same 2x–3x values.
- The barrels. The 3×3 grid that picks 9–27 spins returns in Dice Show, Dog or Alive, Royal Hunt and The Big Dog House.
- Sticky wilds in the bonus. Every game in the series has some version of it, from Multihold copying wilds between grids to The Big Dog House's ghost wilds that can take them away.
What the original doesn't have is a bonus buy, an ante bet or a high cap. If you want those, look at The Dog House Megaways or The Big Dog House. If you want the same game in different clothes, Dice Show uses identical maths.
Mobile
The Dog House on your phone
The game is built in HTML5 and runs in any modern mobile browser, with no app to install. On a phone held upright, it switches to a portrait layout: the dogs and logo sit on top, the 5×3 reels fill the middle of the screen, and a large spin button sits under them with − and + for the bet.
The bottom bar holds the rules (i), autoplay, quick and turbo spin, the bet menu and the main menu. Everything fits without zooming, and the symbols stay large enough to follow the action.
Want to try it first? See our free demo guide.
Our take
Pros and cons
What we like
- Simple rules you can learn in one spin
- Multiplier wilds in the base game, not only in the bonus
- Sticky wilds make free spins build up
- The barrel reveal is a fun start to every bonus
- Solid 96.51% RTP and a free demo
What we don't
- No bonus buy, and the feature can take hundreds of spins
- Free spins can't be retriggered
- The 6,750x cap is the lowest in the series
- A bonus with only one or two wilds pays little
Bottom line
Our verdict: is The Dog House worth playing?
Our score: 8.6/10
Yes, especially if you've never played the series. The Dog House explains itself in a few spins, the multiplier wilds give the base game a pulse, and the barrels and sticky wilds make every bonus round feel like an event. It's a classic for good reasons.
It shows its age in two places: there's no way to buy the feature, and the 6,750x cap is modest next to the newer games. If those matter to you, skip ahead to the Megaways or The Big Dog House. If you just want the pure formula, start here.
- Gameplay
9 out of 10 9- Features
8 out of 10 8- RTP and maths
9 out of 10 9- Win potential
7 out of 10 7- Looks and sound
9 out of 10 9
Quick answers
The Dog House FAQ
What is the RTP of The Dog House?
96.51% in Pragmatic Play's demo. One real-money casino we checked showed 96.50%, so look at the rules in your casino's version.
How many free spins can you get?
Between 9 and 27. Nine barrels each show 1, 2 or 3 spins, and they're added up. We got 12.
Can you buy the bonus in The Dog House?
No. The original has no bonus buy or ante bet. The Megaways, Multihold and every later game have one.
Do the wild multipliers add or multiply?
They add. A 2x and a 3x wild on the same line give 5x.